Surprisingly, it jumped backwards and disappeared into the fog. Unlike the skeleton, the feral zombie charged towards him. He quickly finished it off as he kept an eye out. When he found his next target, he pretended to fight it seriously. Sure enough, this time he heard the sound of bones hitting the cement. The revenant was trying to ambush him again!
Eric activated heavy blow as he spun around. His bat made contact with the revenants chest. The sound of bones snapping rang out across the street. The revenant collapsed into pieces as its bones fell apart. The red light faded from its eye sockets as it dispersed into light.
1,000 XP Acquired.
“What the fuck?” Eric couldn’t believe it. The weakest undead he’d ever seen gave so much XP?
He heard the zombie he was fighting approach him, but it was a regular one, so he easily dodged its attack. When he finished it off, he checked his stats. Surprisingly, a title appeared. When he read it, he grew bewildered.
Prey
Effect(s):
Nothing.
*Acquired after being targeted by a revenant.
“What’s this? This title gives nothing? And what does it mean being targeted by a revenant? Why would I get a title for something like that?” Eric only grew more confused the more he thought about it.
“Ah, ah~” A beautiful voice suddenly rang from behind him.
Eric forced a natural looking smile as he turned around, “Veronica!”
The vampire Veronica once again appeared. This time, there was one change. Her level had increased!
Level 132 Vampire Veronica
Health: 1600/1600
“Don’t tell me she’ll get stronger every passing day?” Eric thought to himself. He was surprised. This was different than other undead. They grew stronger too, but it was actually the newer undead that were stronger. Veronica hadn’t died, right? Then why was she leveling up?
Veronica pursed her lips as she muttered in a cute voice, “No fair~”
“What isn’t?”
Veronica pointed at the screen above her as she said, “You know my name because of this damned system, but I don’t know yours.”
Eric laughed as he walked over to Veronica. His heart pounded with fear, but he didn’t let that show on his face. He spoke softly, “My name is Eric. It’s nice to meet you, Veronica.”
“Eric?” Veronica smiled brightly. Her fangs were apparent for all to see.
“Wait,” Eric paused as he asked, “did you just say the system?”
“Yeah, what about it?” Veronica ran her hand through her hair as he pouted.
“You… you’re aware?” Eric felt like a lightning bolt struck him. He thought it was strange that Veronica could talk. She was clearly intelligent. Now it seemed like she was aware of the system? This was too strange!
Veronica smiled mischievously, “Ah, ah, you’re confused face is so cute~. It makes sense you don’t know much about the system yet. It’s only been what, the 23rd day?”
Eric stepped closer to Veronica. His face was just an inch from hers. He could feel her breathe caress his face, but he forced a pained smile, “Veronica, you stole my first kiss, you know that? Don’t you owe me something?”
“AH!” Veronica exclaimed as her heart pounded. This human... was so bold.
Veronica pursed her lips together as she said, “Hmph. You’re a sly one, aren’t you? Trying to get information from me?”
Eric was just about to apologize when Veronica said, “Fine. Listen carefully.”
He quickly shut his mouth and listened intently. Veronica looked up at the sky as she began to explain, “This fog… it’s actually not the system’s true form.”
“System’s true form?” Eric was confused, but he didn’t interrupt.
“Well~, not even I know what it is, just know that the system is an object. It isn’t alive,” Veronica snarled, “The object is owned by a crazy powerful bastard. One day he arrived on my planet and captured my entire clan. Since then, we’ve been sealed inside the system. He’s captured all manner of creatures.”
“What? The system was created by someone? And that someone captured you?” Eric couldn’t believe what he heard. He’d guessed that the system was created by some god, but to hear that his guess was true…
Eric gulped as he asked, “Who is that person... ? And why did he force my planet to undergo this damned system?”
“That damned bastard? Not even I know. And he didn’t force your planet to undergo this training. He grew bored and tossed that object into space. It just so happened that your planet ran into it,” Veronica explained nonchalantly.
“What? Such a god is so careless?” Eric felt lost. The god grew bored and tossed the object he created into space? That’s why everybody around him was dying? That’s why he had to force himself to risk his life over and over and over again?
“I know, right? That’s why he’s a bastard,” Veronica felt the same as Eric.
Eric fell silent. He was lost in his thoughts as he constantly repeated what Veronica said. His eyes suddenly widened as he exclaimed, “You said training? All of this is for training?”
Veronica nodded, “Right, but don’t ask me why. I’m just a little ant before that god. I’d suggest forgetting about revenge.”
She seemed to see through his heart. He had indeed been thinking about revenge. Why wouldn’t he? This god had indirectly caused thousands, if not millions of deaths! What was wrong with seeking revenge? He liked growing stronger, but not if the cost was the destruction of humanity!
Veronica suddenly sighed, “The sun is coming up again. Hah~, if the system didn’t intentionally weaken me, I wouldn’t have to avoid it. Alas…”
Eric stared into Veronica’s eyes as he said, “Thank you, Veronica.”
She couldn’t help but blush. She wasn’t used to such sincerity and innocence. She turned around and prepared to leave, but not before leaving behind a warning, “Be careful of the revenant. The system picks out those who it distinguishes as extroadinary and attaches a revenant to them, it gets stro-”
She suddenly coughed out a mouthful of blood as she fell to the ground. Eric’s heart clenched as he ran up to her, “Are you okay!?”
Veronica repeatedly coughed up blood. Her face was even paler than before. After a few seconds, she slowly stood up and nodded, “I- I’m fine.”
“What happened?” Eric asked with concern. This time he really was concerned. He wasn’t forcing himself or faking it. After learning what Veronica had told him, he no longer thought of her as an enemy. In his heart, she had become something else.
Veronica sighed, “I told you something that shouldn’t have been said. The system gave me a warning.”
“A warning?” Eric suddenly realized. Veronica had risked herself to give him a hint? His heart warmed. He suddenly embraced her and whispered, “Don’t worry about me. I’m strong! And I’ll only get stronger. Perhaps I’ll get so strong that I can even rescue you from the system.”
“Haha,” Veronica couldn’t help but smile. This human was growing on her. Although what he wished for was impossible, she didn’t care.
After saying goodbye, Eric walked back to the school with a heavy heart. He was contemplating on whether to inform the others of what he learned. Would it give them hope, or despair?
In the end, he kept it to himself.
Chapter 29
Eric’s hunting speed was so fast that he went through several baseball bats a day. He grew certain that his weapon was now too low level for him to use. The bat was great, but it had served its purpose. Eric approached Michael and brought up his problem.
Michael tapped his finger against his chin as he thought aloud, “Need a new weapon? Hmm. You won’t be satisfied with an iron spear or bat, right?”
“It needs to be better,” Eric nodded. The bat was already comparable to the iron spear.
“Well… there is a way…” Michael said hesitantly.
“Oh? Tell me!”
Michael s
ighed, “Haah, you remember the armory? Unlike the workbench, it can directly create items from nothing.”
“Oh, that’s great! Can you give me a weapon that never breaks and does tons of damage?” Eric said expectantly.
Michael slapped Eric across the head, “Of course not!”
“I was just kidding…” Eric felt wronged.
“Anyway, the workbench doesn’t cost kill points to use, but the armory does…”
Eric caught onto what Michael was implying. To create a weapon for his use, it would take up a lot of kill points. The kill points weren’t just for him to hog, it was for everybodies benefit. He couldn’t help but sigh, “Well, it’s fine then.”
“No, it’s okay, you’re our best fighter. The stronger you are, the better,” Michael nodded slightly as he began to move towards the armory.
Eric followed after him, his heart beating in anticipation. Michael browsed through the list of weapons that he could spawn. His frugal nature rose when he realized that he’d need to upgrade the armory to level 3 to get what Eric wanted. It was only level 1. Sighing heavily, he upgraded it twice. With tears in his eyes, he asked Eric, “What type of weapon do you want?”
Eric pondered deeply before saying, “It has to be a blunt weapon. I’d prefer high durability over damage.”
“Let me look.”
Michael browsed through the list of weapons that were available for the tier 3 armory. When he arrived in the gym, he found something. He explained, “It’s a steel mace with 500 durability.”
“500? That’s 3x more than the bat. I want it!” Eric’s eyes glittered. This was more than he expected.
Michael’s finger shook as he purchased a steel mace. 25,000 kill points were deducted. There was a flash of light as a new weapon appeared in the armory. Eric rushed in and picked up the steel mace. It was heavier than the bat, but that was a good thing. The mace was basically a large sphere attached to a rod.
Steel Mace
Damage: 8
Durability: 500/500
The distribution of weight was towards the end. Eric was unaccustomed to it, so he swung it around a few times. With his increased agility, he was able to adapt fast. After a minute, he thanked Michael and said goodbye. He went to the cafeteria to purchase a quest and stock up on supplies before heading out.
Eric approached a zombie and casually swung his new weapon. He expected it to be knocked to the ground like usual, but it didn’t. The rod of the mace struck the zombie, not the sphere. Eric laughed awkwardly as he stepped back. He muttered, “Unlike the bat, I can only damage them with the end.”
He decided to practice some more before heading to the edge of the city. Whenever he struck correctly, he was delighted. His damage was now higher than before, and he didn’t even do anything!
Night quickly arrived. He couldn’t help but think back to Veronica’s warning. Even though her sentence was interrupted, it was easy for him to deduce the rest. The revenant would grow stronger. Combining what he knew about the title and what Veronica said, he guessed that he was being hunted by a unique existence. It would be the same revenant every time, except it would be stronger with each appearance.
As Eric fought, he had to constantly pay attention to his surroundings. This was easier said than done. The way he fought so far, he just focused on the enemy in front of him. To pay attention to the enemy and surroundings at the same time? That was hard.
As the night continued on, he started to feel mental fatigue. He was constantly paying attention to his peripheral vision and other senses. The strain on his eyes was more than his mental fatigue.
When it reached a level where he couldn’t bear it anymore, he decided to take a break. He found a good location to rest. He sat on the side of the street with his back to a cement wall. It had been several hours now, and it hasn’t appeared. Maybe the respawn time is longer than 1 day? Eric had such thoughts as he opened his backpack and took out a snack.
It was at this moment that the sound of clacking rang from in front of him. Eric was stunned. At the moment he was weakest, he was being ambushed?!
He felt a tingling sensation. He felt this once before, when he was wounded by the revenant the first time. He figured it was some kind of instinctual danger sense. He didn’t have time to look up. Instead, he rolled to the side. He quickly jumped up and reached for his weapon, only to realize that he left it on the ground next to his backpack.
“Shit,” Eric clenched his teeth as he looked at the revenant. It had the same appearance as before, except for one thing. It had slightly longer fingers than before. They were sharp.
He watched the revenant closely for any sudden movements. He didn’t have a weapon, leaving him in the worst case scenario.
Level 2 Revenant
Health: 10/10
It suddenly jumped backwards and began to head in the direction of the fog. Eric realized that when its ambush failed, it would retreat into the fog and try again. He clenched his teeth, “I won’t let you!”
Even though he had no weapon, he could handle it with his fists. He quickly caught up to it. The revenant was no match for his agility. Eric activated heavy blow as his fist collided with its skull. It shattered into pieces upon impact. The rest of the revenant’s body dispersed into light. He once again gained 1,000 XP, but he wasn’t happy.
He had started the fight in the worst state. He was mentally exhausted and his eyes were in pain. Not only that, he left his weapon on the ground! If the revenant was stronger, he would have died. This was a wake up call for Eric. He decided that he would never wait until he was tired to take a break. In addition, he needed to pay more attention to his weapon.
With his thoughts concluded, he sat back down to recover before continuing the hunt.
Chapter 30
The 28th night quickly arrived. Everyone was once again prepared for the blood moon. Barrels of gasoline could be seen behind the cars, ready to be thrown. Most of the students were relaxed. All tension and fear towards the blood moon had long since disappeared. It was considered easy now. Even Michael felt the same way.
Only Connor and Eric were cautious and fully prepared for battle. Eric was worrying whether the revenant would appear during the blood moon. Unlike his previous theory, it didn’t appear every night. He didn’t know if it didn’t spawn or whether it didn’t find a chance to ambush him. In either case, it was worse.
If the revenant did appear, he would kill it and then he wouldn’t have to worry about being ambushed. But if it didn’t appear, he wouldn’t know until the night was over!
As Eric thought such things, the moon turned red. The blood moon was beginning. The students clenched their weapons in preparation for killing the feral zombies. They always arrived first. As everyone waited for the horde, a loud thud rang out. The cars shook slightly from the shockwave. Every second, there was another thud. The sound was getting louder and louder.
“Hm?”
“What’s going on?”
“Where’s the zombies?”
Everyone was confused, Eric included. The feral zombies should have already arrived by now, but all they heard was a loud thud.
Eric narrowed his eyes when he spotted a large figure in the distance. As the figure exited the fog, everyone gasped in shock. Before them was an enormous undead. Its arms were larger than even the charger zombie’s arms. They couldn’t even be compared. In comparison, its legs and head were laughably small, but that was only in comparison. The entire creature was 10 ft tall. It walked like a gorilla. A thud was created when its fist slammed onto the ground. It moved slow, but every ‘step’ was several feet.
“What the fuck is that?!” Roy couldn’t help but exclaim.
Everyone looked up and read the screen above the undead.
Level 60 Tank Zombie
Health: 2250/2250
Level 60? Over two thousand health? This was the strongest undead they’d ever seen. Everyone was stunned and confused as the tank zombie walked closer. This wasn’t li
ke the previous blood moons.
Michael woke up a second later. He turned towards the students and yelled, “Fire your magic! Kill it quickly!”
The students reacted to his order and cast all sorts of spells. An ice lance flew through the air, piercing into the zombie. An earth spike rose from the ground in front of the tank and stabbed its leg. Wind blades cut into its skin.
As everyone cast their magic, Eric threw gasoline barrels towards the tank zombie. Michael promptly caused them to explode. The tank zombie disappeared inside the explosion of fire. Everyone could hear its pained roars.
ZOMBIE SLAYER!!: A LitRPG Apocalypse Page 15
